Newly Released Varieties of PUSA, 2018-19

During 2018-19, IARI had released a high yielding, non-basmati, medium slender grain, blast resistant rice variety named “Pusa Sambha 1850” for Chhattisgarh and Odisha. Two new wheat varieties “HI 1612” and “HD 8777” were developed by ICAR-IARI, Regional Station, Indore for North Eastern Plain Zone and Peninsular Zone respectively. Institute has also released Maize hybrid “Pusa Super Sweet Corn 1” with enhanced sweetness with a good grain (9.3 t/ha) and fodder (16.2 t/ha) yield. In Pearl millet, a number of inbreds having high iron (72-113ppm) and zinc content (40-55ppm) have been developed for nutraceuticals importance.

In chickpea, high yielding extra-large Kabuli chickpea (>50g/100 seeds) genotypes having high export potential; in pigeonpea, extra early and early varieties of dwarf stature and amenable to mechanical harvesting have been developed. Institute has identified germplasm lines of rice and wheat with >20% higher water use efficiency (WUE) as compared to the known checks viz., Nagina 22 and C306, respectively, and QTLs for WUE are also identified.

Grape hybrid “Pusa Aditi” was released by the Delhi State Variety Release Committee for its commercial cultivation in NCR region. The varieties of cherry tomato i.e. (Pusa Cherry Tomato-1) and onion (Pusa Sobha) have been released and notified by CVRC for cultivation under protected condition in Delhi NCR and major onion growing states of the country, respectively. Onion variety ‘Pusa Sona’ has been released by All India Network Project on Onion and Garlic and recommended for notification by CVRC. Ten new varieties, viz. Longmelon ‘Pusa Utkarsh’, round melon ‘Pusa Raunak’, cucumber (parthenocarpic, gynoecious) ‘Pusa Seedless Cucumber-6’, muskmelon ‘Pusa Madhurima’ & ‘Pusa Sunahari’, brinjal ‘Pusa Safed Baingan-1’ & ‘Pusa Hara Baingan-1’, okra (resistant to YVMV) ‘Pusa Bhindi-5, garden pea ‘Pusa Prabal’ and chenopodium ‘Pusa Green’ and two hybrids viz. sponge gourd ‘Pusa Shrestha’ and bitter gourd ‘Pusa Hybrid-4’ have been released for cultivation in Delhi NCR region.